The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has given his blessing to the canonical election by the Synod of Bishops of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of Father Yosyf Milan, M.S.U., as Auxiliary Bishop of Kyiv, assigning him title of Bishop of Drusiliana.

Bishop-elect Yosyf was born on July 6, 1957, in Dobryany, in the Province of Lviv. He secretly entered the Dormition Lavra of the Studite monks in 1979 and was ordained priest on December 30, 1984. He has earned advanced degrees in theology and liturgy from the Catholic University of Lublin. Since 2008 he has been parish priest of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of the Lord of the Archeparchy of Kyiv.

Ad multos annos!

Source
"Assenso all'elezione dell'Ausiliare dell'Archieparchia di Kyiv (Ucraina)," April 16, 2009.

Bishop-elect Joseph also served as acting Rector of Saint George's Cathedral, L'viv, for some time after the Church regained legal rights in Ukraine. He accompanied Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sterniuk) for His Beatitude's first visit to North America. Axios!

Fr. Serge

Axios! Axios! Axios!

Eis polla aeti, Despota

I thought the UGCC can appoint its own bishops without need for papal approval

AXIOS!

Does anyone know what M.S.U. stands for?

Monakhy Studytskoho Ustavu in Ukrainian (I think), Monaci Studiti Ucraini in Latin, Ukrainian Studite Monks in English

Many years,

Neil

МНОГАЯ ЛІТА, ВЛАДИКО!

Bishop-elect Josyp is a wonderful and holy man, and a hero of the underground Church. He is responsible for inspiring a good number of vocations for the Studites as well as parochial clergy. The Synod has made a very wise choice.

Yes, MSU stands for the Studites as Neil has correctly noted. +Josyp was the hegumen of the Lavra in Univ for a number of years. He was also a frequent contributor to the "Radio Voskresennya" program after the Church emerged from the catacombs.

The canonical election by the UGCC's Holy Synod of Fr. Yosyf Milan as auxiliary bishop within her canonical territory does not need the Pope's approval.

The Pope "merely" gives his assent to the canonical election.

Amado

"Blessing" is the term that was used, and not "approval". This same term was also used in the recent election of Bishops +Kenneth (Nowakoski) and +Bryan (Bayda), so "canonical territory" appears to not be a serious issue. Kyiv is not within the "canonical territory" of the UGCC Archdiocese of L'viv, for that matter.

The formal announcement from the Vatican Information Service used the term "assent."

Amado

Before the Synod of Bishops of a patriarchal or major archiepiscopal Eastern Catholic Church can announce the canonical election of a new bishop within its proper territory, the assensus (approval, assent, blessing, or consent) of the Roman Pontiff must be sought, unless particular law approved by the Roman Pontiff provides otherwise. This approval can be sought in two ways:

1. The Synod can prepare a list of candidates for approval by the Roman Pontiff. Once a candidate has been approved, he can be elected bishop at any time in the future, provided the approval has not been explicitly withdrawn.

2. The Synod can elect a candidate who has not yet been approved by the Roman Pontiff. In this case, the approval of the Roman Pontiff must be obtained before the election can be announced.

The relevant canons are CCEO cann. 180-189, cf. can. 152.

I would recommend Eastern Catholic Churches: Constitution and Governance (Brooklyn: St. Maron, 1992) by Chorbishop John D. Faris for those who wish to know more about this topic.

This is very encouranging. It sounds as if Bishop-elect Joseph may well become an important leader within the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church.

Ad multos annos!

Chorbishop John's book is good but is now showing some age with the development of several particular Churches in the ensuing time. The UGCC currently does neither 1 or 2 but sends a letter to Rome informing them of the choice of the Synod. Rome sends a letter of assent/blessing. The last choice that was controversal was that of the terrible situation in Toronto, and after the outfall from that incident (including the Synod's choice of hierarch staying and the Rome-picked candidate eventually being recalled back to Rome) I doubt the Curia will be making any unilateral choices anytime soon.

МНОГАЯ ЛІТА, ВЛАДИКО!

Certainly there have been significant developments since Chorbishop John D. Faris's book appeared in 1992. In particular, the creation of three new major archiepiscopal Churches:

1. The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church (1992);
2. The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church (2005);
3. The Romanian Greek-Catholic Church (2005).

And in addition, the creation of a new metropolitan Church: The Slovak Greek-Catholic Church (2008).

However, Chorbishop John's comments on the canons remain valid.